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O Mother, even a dullard becomes a poet who meditates upon thee
raimented with space, three-eyed, creatrix of the three worlds, whose
waist is beautiful with a girdle made of numbers of dead men's arms, and
who on the breast of a corpse, as thy couch in the cremation ground,
enjoyest Mahakala - Karpuradistotra, VII (Woodroffe tr)
Kali's paramount place of worship is in the cremation ground, preferably
at the dead of night, on a suitable day of the waning Moon. Here, her
nature becomes clear and apparent. For an adept in the worship, the
whole world is a cremation ground, and She, the true form of time, who
by herself creates and destroys all, is personified as the pyre. There,
after life, all mortals and their wishes, dreams and reflections come to
their fruition, a pile of worthless ashes.
If you're a six year old child in the West and watch cartoons on TV, you
have an idea who Kali is. She appears in various shows - almost
invariably as an evil demoness who the badly animated superhero has to
conquer. This is highly insulting to many Hindus, who regard her as the
Absolute itself.
Alone amongst all the tantrik deities, it is Kali who has captured the
imagination of the West. But rather than reviled, she is revered by
countless millions of people. Ramakrishna, the famous Indian sage and
saint, was one of her devotees; Rabindranath Tagore another. It's no
coincidence that both these great men came from Bengal, for it is there
that she continues to receive oblations and offerings of flesh.
Nevertheless, traces of her worship are found throughout India and
former territories of India.
Her bad reputation in the West probably sprang from her association with
the cult of the Thuggees, forcefully suppressed by the British during
the days of empire. The Thuggees - the word gave rise to our word thug -
were actually Muslims who took the goddess Kali as their tutelary deity.
They specialised in ensnaring and then robbing and murdering travellers.
Originally, they were only supposed to attack male travellers and in
their latter days attributed their downfall to the fact they had started
to kill woman travellers too.
But Kali pre-dates the Thuggees, quite possibly by several thousands of
years. No one truly knows her origin. She does, however, have an uncanny
and an ambiguous image. Modern pictures of her show her standing on the
dead body of her consort Shiva, with four arms, a necklace of fifty
human skulls, a girdle of human arms, holding an axe, a trident, a
severed human head and a bowl of blood. Around her rages a battle - she
herself is the colour of a thundercloud. Her protruding tongue drips
with the fresh blood of her enemies.
But this image is simply one of many, as we shall see. She is the
goddess in her form as Dakshina Kalika - one of the most popular Bengali
images of the goddess. Her guises are many, and include Bhadra
(auspicious) Kali, Shmashana (cremation ground) Kali, Guhya (secret)
Kali and a host of others. It is only in the great tantrik traditions
that we find a clue to the real meaning of the gruesome images
associated with Kalika. Although Hinduism was much reviled by early
Western colonisers for its idolatry and pantheistic practices, this was
a very narrow view. Tantrik texts repeatedly speak of the Devis or
goddesses as being aspects of the one goddess. The same holds true for
the male aspects. As individual humans all reflect the macrocosm, it's
fair to describe the gods and goddesses of tantra as specialised aspects
of ourselves - and, therefore, of life itself.
Yet life has its dark and its light sides. Death and love, in the
tantrik tradition, are two sides of the same coin. As we look to the
sky, we can see the Sun and Moon as symbols of male and female, of Shiva
and Shakti. In the tantras, the Moon is often taken as a symbol of the
Devi, whether in its dark or its bright fortnight. When She wanes, her
images and her iconography become progressively more dark and fearsome.
But when She waxes, so her images brighten. When she is full, She is
Devi Tripura. Tripura is a name of the goddess meaning three cities.
These allude to her own triple nature as a maiden (Bala) as a fecund
woman (Tripura) and as a post-menstruating woman (Tripura Bhairavi).
Sir John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), writing in the Garland of Letters,
says Kali is the deity in her aspect as withdrawing time into itself.
"Kali is so called because She devours Kala (Time) and then resumes Her
own dark formlessness." (Garland of Letters, page 235). Woodroffe says
some have speculated that Kali was originally the Goddess of the Vindhya
Hills, conquered by the Aryans. The necklace of skulls which makes up
her image, he adds, are those of white people. Relying on the texts
themselves, gives insight into the tantrik idea of Kali. In the
Kulachudamani Tantra (KT), Lord Shiva asks questions answered by Devi,
the goddess. It is, probably, one of the oldest tantras, according to
Woodroffe, who published the Sanskrit text with an English introduction
in his Tantrik Texts series.
In eight short chapters, Devi expounds the essence of her worship,
sometimes in most beautiful imagery. But the uncanny side of Kaula and
Kali worship is dwelt on in great detail, with references to siddhis -
magical powers - including a mysterious process where the tantrik adept
leaves his body at night, apparently so he can engage in sexual
intercourse with Shaktis. Animal sacrifice also has a place in this
tantra.
The siddhis play a large part in the worship of the uncanny goddess
Kali. The main tantrik rites are called the six acts (shatkarma) of
pacifying, subjugating, paralysing, obstructing, driving away, and
death-dealing. But the KT includes others such as Parapurapraveshana,
which is the power of reviving a corpse, although according to some it
means the ability to enter another's living body; Anjana, an ointment
which lets a sadhaka see through solid walls; Khadga which gives
invulnerability to swords; Khecari, which gives the power of flying and
Paduka Siddhi, magical sandals which take you great distances, rather
like seven league boots.
Certainly, the importance of having a suitable Shakti is important,
according to the instructions Devi gives to Shiva. Devi here takes the
form of Mahishamardini, more popularly known as Durga, who destroyed the
two arch-demons Shumbha and Nishumbha in an epic battle between the
goddess and the throng of demons. It was at this time, according to
legend, that Durga created Kali, emanating her out of her third eye.
We learn more of Durga's legends and myths from the Kalika Purana. The
Devi, Mahamaya, appeared as Bhadra Kali - identical with Mahishamardini
- in order to slay the demon Mahisha. He had fallen into a deep sleep on
a mountain and had a terrible dream in which BhadraKali cut asunder his
head with her sword and drank his blood.
The demon started to worship Bhadra Kali and when Mahamaya appeared to
him again in a later age to slaughter him again, he asked a boon of her.
Devi replied that he could have his boon, and he asked her for the
favour that he would never leave the service of her feet again. Devi
replied that his boon was granted. "When you have been killed by me in
the fight, O demon Mahisha, you shall never leave my feet, there is no
doubt about it. In every place where worship of me takes place, there
(will be worship) of you; as regards your body, O Danava, it is to be
worshipped and meditated upon at the same time." (Kalakikapurana, ch.62,
107-108.)
For this reason, the image of Mahishamardini always has her trampling
the buffalo Mahisha.
When She, the goddess, is dark, She is Devi Kalika, an equally high
symbol of death and destruction. Throughout Her different manifestations
and phases, She remains the one true goddess, Shakti, energy itself. She
is symbolised by the yoni and the female cycle, which also shows waxing
and waning throughout the month. Her spouse, Shiva, is symbolised by the
Sun, by the phallus, by sperm, and as an emblem of consciousness without
attributes. According to the tantrik phraseology "Only when Shiva is
united with Shakti has Shiva power to act. Otherwise he is a corpse
(shava)."
Another black deity of the Indian sub-continent has a close connection
with Kali - Krishna. According to the Kalivilasa Tantra, he was born
from the golden goddess Gauri, who turned black after she was hit by an
arrow from the Hindu cupid, Kama.
Kali is Shakti, the great goddess, creating the three gunas: sattvas,
rajas and tamas. The three gunas in their various permutation create all
the fabric of the universe, including the five elements, skin, blood,
etc..
These principles are the substance of she whose play (lila) is their
modification. Kali is the first and foremost of the ten aspects of the
goddess. She is pure sattvas, pure spirit.
A sadhaka (male) or a sadhvika (female) can worship the goddess -- the
Devi -- in any of ten forms for the fruition of desires. Her ten major
forms are Kali, Tara, Shodasi, Bhuvaneshvari, Bhairavi, Chinnamasta,
Dhumavati, Bagala, Matangi and Kamala. These aspects are known as the
ten mahavidyas.
To a sadhaka, to know these is to know the universe, as she is both
space and time and beyond these categories. Each form has its own dhyana
(meditation), yantra (diagram), mantra (sound form) and sadhana
(actions).
Mahavidya Kali is the primordial Devi who is the root of all the Great
Knowledges (mahavidya). Worshipped by sadhakas and sadhvikas, her outer
forms are fearful. She destroys time, is time, and is the night of
eternity.
Kali, certainly in the left hand tantrik tradition (vamachara), which is
the path into Vama (woman and left) enters, is subject to much
misunderstanding. The right hand path (dakshinachara) does not include
the sexual component, while Vamachara allows sexual intercourse as part
of her worship.
According to Sir John Woodroffe, in his introduction to the
Karpuradistotra, which is a 22 verse hymn on Dakshina Kalika, pashus -
those of a base disposition, are forbidden to engage in sexual sadhana
at night. "The Pashu is still bound by the pasha (bonds) of desire,
etc., and he is, therefore, not adhikari for that which, if undertaken
by the unfit, will only make these bonds stronger." Verse 10 of the
Karpuradistotra spells out the practice. "If by night, Thy devotee
unclothed, with dishevelled hair, recites whilst meditating on Thee, thy
mantra, when with his Shakti youthful, full-breasted, and heavy-hipped
such an one makes all powers subject to him and dwells on the earth ever
a seer." Worship of Kali is for the hero (vira) or a person of a highly
spiritual nature (divya)
Kali's imagery is full of ambiguity, and this is deliberate on the part
of the tantrik adepts who worshipped her.
As an example, according to some texts, the Kali sadhana takes place on
a Tuesday, at midnight, in the cremation ground. Here, surrounded by
jackals, owls and other uncanny creatures of the night, the sadhaka and
his Shakti select a newly dead male corpse, which should be, according
to the texts, of a young man preferably a king, a hero or a warrior. If
he has recently died in battle, so much the better. Placing the corpse
face downwards, the two draw the Kaliyantra on his back, offer each
other food, wine and other good things, and then commence the act of
ritual sex. At the close of intercourse, the man offers his Shakti one
of her public hairs smeared with his semen and, if she is menstruating,
blood.
Woodroffe says that the worship of Kali in the pashu mode is totally
forbidden by Shiva, quoting the influential Niruttara Tantra as his
source. "By the worship of Kali without Divyabhava and virabhava the
worshipper suffers pain at every step and goes to hell. If a man who is
of the Pashubhava worships Kali then he goes to the Raurava Hell until
the time of final dissolution."
As to the matter of a suitable Shakti for the sexual rites of Kali, the
NT suggests that when a sadhaka has already achieved success with his
own Shakti, he may then worship another woman. But Woodroffe says this
other woman is the supreme Shakti in the sadhaka's own body.
The cremation ground is often interpreted as the place where all desires
are burnt away. Before realising kaivalya (liberation), the sadhaka must
burn away all the taboos and conditionings which prevent this
liberation.
The cremation ground (shmashana) is also the supreme nadi or channel
within the human organism - the sushumna -- The central channel of
bioenergy within the spine of a human being, the royal road of
Kundalini.
There the Devi or goddess is coiled up three and a half times at the
base of the spine. When she unfolds and enters the sushumna, the bliss
of this cosmic orgasm causes the universe to disappear. On the sadhaka
within the shmashana yantra is Shakti, both entwined in close sexual
embrace. She is the human form of Kali, as he is the human form of
Shiva. Both are forever united. The Niruttara Tantra says (2, 27) "The
cremation ground is of two kinds, O Devi, the pyre and the renowned
yoni. Shiva is the phallus, Kuleshani! So Mahakala said." Questioned
later by Shri Devi in the same tantra, Shiva says that the vagina is
Dakshina herself, in the form of the three gunas, the essence of Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva. These three forms represent the powers of creation,
maintenance and destruction. They have their Shakti counterparts.
"When she has the semen of Shiva, she is Shiva-Shakti." (NT)
The Karpuradistotra comments on animal sacrifice. Male creatures may
only be sacrificed to Kali, else she becomes furious. Verse 19 says that
worshippers of Kali who sacrifice the flesh of cats, camels, sheep,
buffaloes, goats and men to her become accomplished. A commentary by a
Kaula, Vimalananda Svami, which Woodroffe only partially translates,
claims these animals represent the six enemies with the goat
representing lust, the buffalo anger, the cat greed, the sheep delusion,
the camel envy. Man represents pride. However, according to other
sources, only a king may perform the sacrifice of a man.
At the great temple of the Devi at Kamakhya in Assam, there is evidence
that male human sacrifice was performed in the past. This site is
renowned for Shakti worship because of a legend that Vishnu once cut the
body of Shakti into 50 pieces with his discus. These parts represent the
letters of the Sanskrit alphabet and are pithas (pedestals = sacred
sites) of Devi. The yoni of Shakti fell at this spot, making it the most
sacred of all.
Who, then, is Kali? Devi gives her own description in the Kulachudamani:
"I am Great Nature, consciousness, bliss, the quintessence, devotedly
praised. Where I am, there are no Brahma, Hara, Shambhu or other devas,
nor is there creation, maintenance or dissolution. Where I am, there is
no attachment, happiness, sadness, liberation, goodness, faith, atheism,
guru or disciple.
"When I, desiring creation, cover myself with my Maya (The great power
of Shakti to delude all created things through Her play, ed.) and become
triple and ecstatic in my wanton love play, I am Vikarini, giving rise
to the various things.
"The five elements and the 108 lingams arise, while Brahma and the other
devas, the three worlds, Bhur-Bhuvah-Svah (the three worlds)
spontaneously come into manifestation.
"By mutual differences of Shiva and Shakti, the (three) gunas originate.
All things, such as Brahma and so forth, are my parts, born from my
being. Dividing and blending, the various tantras, mantras and kulas
manifest. After withdrawing the five fold universe, I, Lalita, become of
the nature of nirvana. Once more, men, great nature, egoism, the five
elements, sattvas, rajas and tamas become manifested. This universe of
parts appears and is then dissolved.
"O All-Knowing One, if I am known, what need is there for revealed
scriptures and sadhana? If I am unknown, what use for puja and revealed
text? I am the essence of creation, manifested as woman, intoxicated
with sexual desire, in order to know you as guru, you with whom I am
one. Even given this, Mahadeva, my true nature still remains secret."
The Yogini Tantra describes the goddess as the cosmic mother
(Vishvamata), dark as a thunderstorm, wearing a garland and waistband of
skulls, with dishevelled hair, completely naked (digambaram).
She has a rolling tongue, makes a terrifying roar, three reddened eyes,
and has a wide open mouth. She wears a moon digit on her forehead, has
the corpses of two boys as her earrings, and is adorned with various
gems, which are of the brightness of the Sun and the Moon.
Laughing loudly, she has two streams of blood pouring from her mouth,
while her throat is red with blood. In her four arms she holds cleaver,
head, and makes mudras dispelling fears and granting boons. She, the
supreme Nitya, is seated in reverse (viparita) intercourse with Mahakala
upon the corpse of Shiva. The whole scene is set in the cremation
ground.
Yet, as with most other tantrik symbolism, the meaning of this cremation
pyre operates on multiple levels. The pyre is also the yoni. Sir John
Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), says Kali is the deity in her aspect as
withdrawing time into itself. "Kali is so called because She devours
Kala (Time) and then resumes Her own dark formlessness." Garland of
Letters , page 235.
There is a wealth of other material about Kali and her different
manifestions on this site. For example, the Kulachudamani Tantra, refers
to her aspect as Mahishamardini. See the Brihadnila Tantra, which has
chapters devoted to both Kali and to the goddess Tara. We also publish
here abstracts of the Kaulavalinirnaya tantra, the Niruttara Tantra and
the Rudrayamala Tantra, all of which have extensive references to
Kalika.
View Her yantra, her secret sadhana, or see Hindu tantrik translations
online |
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